Canning Stock Route Tour from Broome to Alice Springs via Gunbarrel Highway 19 days

NOTE THIS IS MOSTLY REMOTE CAMPING AND TRAVEL

Canning Stock Route from Alice Springs return 19 days includes Billilluna Aboriginal Community Stretch Lagoon - bird watching near Paraku IPA Durba Springs Onegunyah Rockhole Wiluna Mt Beadell Warburton Giles Uluru Gunbarrel Highway

Tour includes travel by Toyota Landcruiser GXL  vehicles (Maximum 3-4 persons per vehicle), 4 nights motel accommodation (Broome, Halls Creek, Wiluna and Kunawaratji), all meals, fees, permits, professional 4WD driver guides, delicious healthy meals, deluxe & modern camping gear supplied including full height tents, stretchers if required, hot showers & real toilet.

Note Alice Springs departures meet Broome departures near Balgo / Lake Gregory after travelling from Alice Springs via Tanami Track, Tillmouth Well and Rabbit Flat.  Both tours overnight at Canning SR end at Wiluna and visit Well 2. Alice Springs tour returns on Gunbarrel Highway (built by Len Beddell) via Carnegie, Everard Junction, Warburton (great Aboriginal art work), Giles Weather Station, Schwerin Mural Crescent, Docker River, Uluru, Alice Springs

Our Canning Stock Route Tours travel the original Canning Stock Route created by Albert Canning in 1908 for Kimberley cattlemen to take their stock to the southern markets. The CSR includes 51 wells and stretches 2,013 kilometres from Halls Creek to Wiluna in Western Australia. The Canning Stock Route now forms one of the most remote and challenging four wheel drive tracks in the world…. Our route takes us via awesome desert landscapes as we travel via the Great Sandy Desert, Tanami and Gibson Deserts through gibbers, sandhills, ancient ranges and salt lakes

Alice Springs or Broome departures are same departure dates, with return options – please ask.

Broome to Wiluna 16 days (to fly to Perth) Our journey includes Fitzroy Crossing, Halls Creek, Billilluna Aboriginal Community, Lake Gregory (bird watchers paradise), Kunawarritji Aboriginal Community, Wardabunni Rockhole, Durba Springs, Diebel Springs, Onegunyah Rockhole, Lake Disappointment, Helen Hill, Slate Range, Ural Native Title Well, Glen Ayle Station, then the rich mineral & Gold rush areas around Wiluna

OR Depart from Alice Springs and return to Alice Springs - 19 days

Canning Stock Route Tour

Canning Stock Route Tours – see note at the end re from Alice Springs
 

Day 1 – Meet fellow travellers in Broome at 6pm for dinner then overnight Broome

Day 2 - Travel via Fitzroy Crossing to Halls Creek.  We arrive Halls Creek Hotel for overnight. B, L, D

Day 3 – Leaving Halls Creek we take the Tanami Track road south toward Alice Springs and Wolf Creek Crater. We travel via Ruby Plains, and vast cattle station still owned and operated by S. Kidman & Co the pioneering pastoralist who ruled the cattle country of the late 18 & 1900s.  We travel by and see Wolfe Creek Crater, the world 2nd largest meteorite crater, before arrival at the Aboriginal community and owned cattle station of Billilluna, the start of the Canning Stock Route. From here we pass by waterholes of Lake Gregory (bird watchers paradise) by the Paraku Indigenous Protected Area and check out the birds and wildlife.
   

Paruku is the Walmajarri name for Lake Gregory. Paruku/Lake Gregory is the only lake in the region with a reliable source of fresh water for large numbers of birds and other animals, supporting over 70 species of waterbirds and 175 aquatic species. Surrounded by hundreds of kilometres of arid desert lands, these wetland oases are fed from a catchment in the south-east Kimberley region. More than 100,000 birds visit the wetlands regularly, with up to 60,000 estimated at Mulan Lake at any one time.

Paruku IPA encompasses a variety of desert and semi-desert landscapes undulating red sand plains, salt pans and occasional dunes with stunted eucalyptus. It is dotted with acacias and spinifex, flood plains with swathes of short grasses and low shrubs, and alluvial plains and sand rises.
We visit Bloodwood Bore and Wells 51 and 50, before stopping for our overnight camp at the restored Well 49, the Crystal Well.

Day 4 – On the track again we explore Breaden Pool and Godfrey's tank – named in 1896 after members of David Carnegie’s expedition. We stop at Wells 48 and 47 then it’s into the sand dunes with their unique vegetation and wildlife to arrive at Well 46 for overnight.

Day 5 - We are now in the Great Sandy Desert and check out Wells 45 & 44, and take a break at Gravity Lakes. From Well 43 we head over the Guli Lake System and past Well 42 to stop for overnight amongst the trees near Helena Springs track.

Day 6  - Enjoy the remote early morning nature of this area before arrival at Well 41, known by the locals as 'Tiru'. This was a popular resting spot for the drovers due to good feed here for their cattle. We head south to cross Lake Tobin then to Well 39, where lots of water here attracts abundant bird life including budgerigars. Wardabunni Rockhole & Well 38 is reached today, where we enjoy another night under the stars.

Day 7 - After another great breakfast we arrive at Well 37, where lay the graves of 3 early drovers who died under mysterious circumstances. We learn more of the mystery and their fate at the site, and numerous other stories of early pioneers before Well 36. Travelling on we visit Well 33 then overnight in comfortable and modern style rooms at the Kunawarritji Aboriginal Community. Here we have abundant water and a chance to catch up on personal laundry.

Day 8 – At Kunawarritji Aboriginal Community and store we can do personal shopping and restock some essential supplies & fuel. These remote communities are always fascinating insights into remote desert life. Onwards we visit Wells 32, 31 and 30 (known as Duna Jinnda). After lunch we travel to Thring Rock, a sandstone outcrop with a lookout we climb for a great view of the landscape, before our overnight camp nearby.

Day 9 - More sand dunes today before Well 27, then the rebuilt Well 26 with good drinking water. We take a break here and stock up with water, then travel to shady Well 25 for lunch under the Desert Oaks before arrival at Well 24 for overnight camp. 

Day 10 – We are now also on part of the Talawana Track, which is a direct route to Newman. We see the Capricorn Roadhouse Fuel dump where many Canning trekkers still arrange fuel drops from Newman. Travel on to Georgia Bore, which was sunk in the 1970’s by CRA survey crews. Lake Disappointment is a large salt lake and our goal today. Named by explorer Frank Hann after he was expecting to find a freshwater lake. Overnight and sunset by the lake shore at Lake Disappointment.

Day 11 – We travel several kilometres by the shores of Lake Disappointment to Savory Creek crossing (or diversion crossing depending on water levels) and Well 19. After lunch we visit Onegunyah Rock Hole before majestic Durba Springs where we spend 2 nights in this restful shaded and well watered area.

Day 12 - Durba Springs is known as 'Jilikuru' by the local Martu people, who made this area their home. Elaborate Aboriginal rock art sites are here, and we walk through the Durba Hills area viewing these rock art galleries. Enjoy lunch back at camp and a relaxing easy afternoon as the drovers and cattle did in the good old days.

Day 13 – We leave this little haven and head for Well 16 with its challenging history then the lookout at Well 15 enables a wider view of this incredible landscape. Wells 14 and 13 are visited, then the restored Well 12 with good drinking water.   Then on to wells 11 & 10 and MacConkey Hill for our camp under a starry sky.

Day 14 – Today takes us to Weld Springs (Well 9) and the edge of Glen-Ayle Station, where WA’s first premier John Forrest built a fort in 1874 to defend against Aborigines. We travel off the CSR here to Glen-Ayle Station and then to Wiluna for refuelling, before overnight at the southern end of Canning Stock Route.

Days - 15-19 - Alice Springs tour returns on Gunbarrel Highway & Great Central Road (surveyed by Len Beddell) via Carnegie Station, Everard Junction, Warburton (great Aboriginal art work), Giles Weather Station, Schwerin Mural Crescent, Docker River, Uluru, Alice Springs overnight) completes 10 am Day 19

Broome to Alice Springs tour returns on Gunbarrel Highway Includes -

•    Genuine small group travel – Maximum 12 in convoy Toyota Landcruiser vehicles
•    All delicious meals on tour, including breakfasts, lunches and dinners
•    Special diets catered
•    5 nights hotel / motel accommodation
•    14 nights camping with comfortable, modern, user friendly equipment including full height Easy Up tents (no centre pole), stretchers if required, self-inflating mattresses, linen and pillow case.
•    Hot showers and real toilet
•    Professional Driver / Guides
•    Satellite phone connection to the world, Emergency services / Flying Doctor if required
•    2 way radio allows communication and sharing between vehicles
•    Personal refrigeration for limited supplies of alcohol and medications
•    Aboriginal Art purchase opportunities direct from source
•    240 Volt and 6 Volt USB charging for cameras and phones

Excludes -

•    Flights to and from departure points
•    Alcohol

Call Now to book or for latest tour dates and availability – Call 1300 763 188